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Thursday, May 8, 2014

My friend Jessa Russo has a new book out! I first met her years ago when we were both working toward publication. Her debut was the first in a trilogy, but DIVIDE, her latest release, is a stand-alone! So of course I asked her to blog about the difference between her experiences writing a standalone vs. a series.

I'll be giving not one, but TWO e-copies of DIVIDE away at 8:00 EST tomorrow! (May 9) All you have to do is comment for a chance to win!

For five (5!) extra entries, tweet about it using this text: I'm dying for a chance to read DIVIDE by @JessaRusso! http://goo.gl/h3NDZL #giveaway #amreading

But first, look at this stunning cover and blurb! (And don't forget to stick around for the excerpt at the end!)

From senior class president to dejected social outcast, with just the flick of a match.

After accusations of torching her ex-boyfriend’s home are followed by the mysterious poisoning of her ex-best friend, seventeen-year-old Holland Briggs assumes her life is over. And it is. But not in the way she thinks.

As Holland learns the truth about her cursed fate—that she is descended from the Beast most have only ever heard of in fairytales—she unites with an unlikely ally, good-looking newcomer Mick Stevenson.

Mick knows more about Holland’s twisted history than she does, and enlightening as it is to learn about, his suggestion for a cure is unsettling at best. Holland must fall in love with Mick in order to break the spell, and save their future generations from repeating her cursed fate. Having sworn off love after the betrayals of her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, this may be difficult to accomplish.

Complicating things further for Holland and Mick, time runs out, and Holland’s change begins way before schedule. With Holland quickly morphing into a dangerous mythical creature, Mick struggles to save her.

Should they fail, Holland will be lost to the beast inside her forever.

***

What are the differences between
planning a standalone (DIVIDE) and planning a trilogy (The Ever Trilogy)?

Well, I have to admit that you lost me at ‘planning’. I've
never been a plotter, so I can’t tell you the difference between planning a
series and planning a standalone. Because I don’t actually plan for any of it.

What I can tell you is this: for a pantser, or at least, for
me specifically, the standalone was so much easier to write than the series.
With a trilogy, I really think plotting would have been extremely helpful, as
even now, I’m up against the quickly-decreasing timeline of releasing the third
installment of The Ever Trilogy, and I have no idea how the story will end.
With a standalone, I wrote the book, revised a few times, tied up all the loose
ends—or tried to—and I’m done. With the series, there’s so much more to think
about, from keeping plot holes from popping up halfway through (which, I guess,
essentially makes me a bit of a planner, since I do have to look to the
future), to making sure characters stay consistent in their actions and habits,
while also growing over the arc of the series . . . and so on and so forth . .
. it’s a lot more work. In my humble opinion.

I can’t say I love one more than the other, but I tend to
favor series-writing. Even after I finished DIVIDE (and soon after,
CHLORINE&CHAOS), my brain keeps trying to find a way to throw a curve ball
and continue on with these characters. I’ve become so attached to them and
their stories—it’s hard to let go.

EXCERPT:

“She told me the stories about you, as I’m sure you guessed,
and obviously I remember the news and everything.” He shook his head. “But
seriously, I’m a bit perplexed that you have to deal with it even though no one
actually died, and they couldn’t prove you did anything.”

I shrugged. “Well, I guess that’s high school for you.”

“Yeah, I don’t miss it. But, hey, at least you’re almost
out. What are you doing after you graduate?”

“I—well—I don’t really have a plan.”

Anymore. I didn’t have a plan anymore. “I imagine Rod and
Leslie are still headed off to ASU together in the fall, but I’ll no longer be
completing that trifecta of doom.”

I’d never considered much else because that had been our
plan for as long as I could remember. Graduate high school, move to Tempe, go
to ASU. The three of us had it all figured out. Or so I’d thought.

“Wow. So, Rod and Leslie, those are the people you
supposedly killed?”

Shoot. How much of that had I voiced out loud? Way to go,
Holland. I cleared my throat. Might as well talk to him. He probably already
knew everything anyway, so what could it hurt?

“Yeah. Leslie was my best friend. Rod was my boyfriend. We’d
all been best friends since we were in diapers, basically, but sometime in
middle school . . . well, Rod and I became more.”

I took a breath, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my
stomach that always accompanied this story. I wished I could change it, but the
ending was always the same.

“So, just barely into our senior year—what should have been
the most important and memorable year of our lives thus far—after the three of
us have been best friends our entire lives, and Rod and I had been together for
almost five years, something changed.”

“He cheated on you. With her, right?”

I hated that word. Cheated. He didn’t cheat on me. This
wasn’t a pop quiz during third period Biology. He betrayed me. It could have
been anyone else. He could have hooked up with one of the other cheerleaders on
the squad. Or even Sana, Cam’s ex-girlfriend. But no. He chose the one person
in the world—aside from him—who I trusted more than anyone.

He didn’t cheat on me.

He destroyed me.

Don't forget to comment to enter to win a copy, sweeties! For five extra entries, tweet about the giveaway using this text: I'm dying for a chance to read DIVIDE by @JessaRusso! http://goo.gl/h3NDZL #giveaway #amreading

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

This past year, I found myself in the very best of
problematic situations – having two jobs I loved, but enough time to do only
one. I’ll miss my college students more
than I can say, but in the end, writing was the best choice for me in terms of
flexibility, long-term sustainability, and, yes, even income. So at the end of
the year I packed up the office I’d spent so many wonderful years in, boxing up
hundreds of books I’d collected during five years of grad school and five more
years of work, and lowering my hard-earned diplomas from their places on the
wall.

Now, every weekday, four hours are dedicated to writing
books and preparing them for publication.

Feeling like a “real” writer has crept on me slowly, so
quietly that it’s hard to pinpoint when I felt the title really fit me.(I do
know for sure it wasn’t when I
published my first book, or even when I started earning money.)

When I started
testing out the title, telling people, “I’m a writer,” it felt like a
terrifying leap of faith. It felt like a commitment to something I wasn’t sure
I could follow up on, a promise of some brilliance I knew I hadn’t uncovered,
nor was I sure I ever would.

Now, with six books published (three under a pen name,) I've
instilled in myself a sense of expertise, of “knowing the ropes,” of
familiarity with the roller-coaster ride that is drafting, editing, and
publishing a book. But as I settle into this new career, I keep reminding
myself to be careful. As much as outlines are essential, deadlines are helpful,
and polished books are absolutely necessary, being a working writer is, and
always will be, about something completely different.

I started this work because it helped me in a way that nothing else could. Even though my hard work
and dedication has turned that hobby into a career, I know now more than ever
that every book I write has to be born of excitement and love. You see, in my best
writing experiences, I feel like the story is a train I’m chasing around and
around my brain, trying to look at the car that represents each character, plot
point, or theme in every way possible, and grab onto it long enough to
translate that into words. Sometimes it’s a smooth ride, other times it’s
fraught with obstacles. No matter what, I can’t really relax until I've managed
to write the story well enough to wrestle that train to a stop.

That feeling is the reason I became addicted to writing, and
now that creating stories is my job – my real, honest-to-God paying profession –
I’m determined never to let it go. It’s what keeps me going, and I know my readers
can tell that I genuinely love each book I put out into the world. The
connection between author and story translates into something that, in turn,
connects the reader to the writer.

So, as I begin my life as a working writer, I’m making a
promise to myself and to anyone who reads my work: I will never publish
anything that I didn't work on as hard as I could, that I didn't believe in,
that I didn't love. Otherwise, to me, no other perk of the writer’s life I've
worked so hard to build is worth it.